Marjorie Taylor Greene Rants About Giving $25M to 'Desert Fish' in Spending Bill Tirade

Marjorie Taylor Greene on Tuesday mocked the $3.5 trillion spending bill Democrats are trying to pass in the Senate this week, claiming to have read the 3,000-page document and saying that it has allocated $25 million each to support desert fish, fresh water mussels, butterflies, and endangered plants in Hawaii.

Democrats have unveiled parts of the $3.5 trillion bill over the last several weeks, with legislation covering a broad range of issues, including climate change, energy, families, immigration, taxes and welfare.

"Just pass the bill and then we will all find out what's in it. Right? I mean why read 3,000 plus pages of trillions in spending? Silly Marjorie," Greene, a Georgia GOP representative, tweeted on Tuesday, along with a photo of the bill on a desk.

"Professional politicians don't read the most expensive spending bills in history. That's not how things are done in the swamp."

Earlier she tweeted: "Good morning. How do you all feel about giving $25,000,000 to Desert Fish? They need the cash guys," before making similar unsubstantiated claims about fresh water mussels, butterflies, endangered plants in Hawaii all being allocated $25 million in the bill.

A spokesperson for Greene told Newsweek that the sarcastic tweets were intended to mock the "ridiculous spending" by the Democrats.

Asked whether she actually had read the bill, the spokesperson said: "She has actually read the bill. Why else would would she have it printed? You should ask the Democrats why they want to kill so many trees with this 3000+ page bill."

Senate Democrats, who only narrowly control the chamber, this week are attempting to pass the bill to fund the government through to December 3 and suspend the debt ceiling until the end of 2022. The debt ceiling, which has continued to rise since it was first introduced in 1917, is the limit on how much money federal government can borrow.

But Republicans blocked the measure, which needed 60 votes to pass: instead, it achieved a vote tally of 48-50. It has raised the pressure on Congress to pass a bill to avoid a partial shutdown of federal government on Friday, as current government funding expires on Thursday. If a shutdown occurs, it could cripple the U.S. economy as it struggles to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and harm the reputation of the Biden administration.

All Republicans voted against extending the debt ceiling and all Democrats supported the measure. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer switched his vote to a "no" to allow him call for another vote on the policy.

The New York lawmaker called the initial vote "one of the most reckless, one of the most irresponsible votes I've seen taken in the Senate."

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell accused the Democrats of "playing politics" for rejecting a GOP proposal he said could avoid a Friday government shutdown. He said it was the Democrats' fault because they knew about Republicans' opposition to raising or suspending the debt ceiling for two months, but proceeded with the vote anyway.

GOP lawmakers have said that they want the Democrats to lift the debt limit on their own, but Democrats say that much of the national debt was incurred under former Republican President Donald Trump.

Greene gave a viral interview with former Trump national security advisor Steve Bannon on his War Room podcast on September 16, where she encouraged the government to shut down over the spending bill.

"I'll tell you what I have to say, Steve: Shut it down! Shut the government down—who cares?" Greene said before claiming that Americans don't need the government to fix the country's infrastructure.

Correction 10/01/21: This article incorrectly said the spending bill was 3,000 words. The article has been amended to say "3,000 pages".